The Effects of Living Alone Essays - , Term Papers

The Effects of Living Alone Nowadays, young people want to move out and live on their own. It is good to learn how to live without depending on someone else to do your chores and to be more independent. Also, to be able to manage your finances, to learn how to take care of yourself, when no one else will. But every now and then it can get a little bit lonely not having anyone to pour out your troubles to. Of course you have your friends, but it is one thing to live alone in a flat and another to live together with a loved one in an apartment. Although, living with a friend is difficult sometimes, it is still better than living alone. A clear example of this is Jean from "Shopping for one" by Anne Cassidy, which I shall use as a case-study in this essay, while shopping she remembered one of her mother's favorite thoughts: "You can always tell a person by their shopping." Her mother was right. When you look at Jean's wire basket you can see "individual fruit pies, small s alad cream, yoghurt, tomatoes, cat food and a chicken quarter." This suggests that she lives alone and owns a cat like most people who live alone. She also felt pitiful buying small doses of everything, and was uneasy thinking everyone knew she was living alone. And given the fact that it hasn't been long since she had broke n up with her boyfriend, upon seeing couples in front of her buying family sizes of everything, she felt even more alone. While she was standing in the line, waiting for her turn, surrounded by couples or women shopping for their families, she couldn't help herself but to remember about her ex-boyfriend. The item that reminded her about him was a cooking book. She picked up "Cooking for One", the book, wondering whether to buy it or not. It seems that this book tells people that she lives alone, but Jean doesn't want people to know about that . Because then she have to admit to herself that she feels lonely. Yet, if you have fri ends it doesn't matter whether you live alone or not. You will have someone to talk to, while Jean has only her cat. Then she put the book back on its place. When she was done with the shopping she felt a sense of relief, owing to the fact that she lives alone and doesn't feel comfortable around people: " She felt a sense of relief to be away from the mass of people. She felt out of place, a non-conformer, half a consumer unit. " Walking back to her car, Jean thought again about the book and told herself that next she will buy it. She felt more confident in the fresh air, she didn't care what people might think if she buys the book. In any case, living alone could easily affect people in ways they never expect. They become less communicative, can't open up easily to someone and let that person in thei r heart. It is best to live with someone instead of a pet, because people feel emptiness inside of them and only another human being can fill that emp tiness. Even the harmless, at first sight, act like shopping can make a person feel out of place; embarrassed by the small amounts of food they bought and hemmed in between family sizes of everything. In this particular moment all the person would like to do is to go home, where they feel safe and protected, because their home is their sanctuary.